10/12/2016

Headline October 13, 2016/ ''' *STUDENTS* -SEARING- *SUICIDES* '''

''' *STUDENTS* -SEARING-

*SUICIDES* '''

IT IS NOT WITHOUT PROFOUND and growing sadness, terrible sorrow and *utter shame*, that I go about sourcing and researching, and fact-checking, this operational research for the subject Headline.

The World Students Society, thanks most humbly, the great journalists, ever so determined to bring forth these suicides to surface, -all these lives cut short, all torn to shreds, to what I hope and pray would begin an enlightened public discourse.

ACCORDING TO THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PSYCHIATRISTS, around 29 percent of youth displayed clinical levels of psychological distress-

And this is attributed to many, many *socio-economic reasons*

YOUTH SUICIDE has been emerging as a threatening issue in recent years and all, and right, across, the world.

South Asia is considered the world's suicidal focal point. IN INDIA, according to a 2012 National Crime Bureau Report, *around 20 students kill themselves everyday due to stress related to exams and competition for admission to reputable educational institutions.''

While suicide has increased by 170 percent globally in the last two decades up to 2015. Strictly in the locally, Pakistani context, according to one master researcher.

34% of Pakistani population suffers from mental disorders and depressions is implicated in more than 90 percent of suicide cases. In absence of any authentic official national data on suicide, researchers agreed-

That one has to rely on the accumulating anecdotal evidence that suicide rates have increased in Pakistan over the last few years.

In April 2016, Waseemullah, a second year student at the Aga Khan School of Nursing hanged himself from the ceiling fan of his room.

According to his friends, he was a lively boy who had come all the way from Gilgit to pursue his studies on a full-time scholarship. Friends say he had a promising career to look forward to.

Strangely, Wasimullah isn't the only suicide victim in this dorm -some news report claim that around five students have taken their lives in the same dormitory in the last few years.

In fact, a 21 year old medical student from Chitral committed suicide in the same very room as Waseemullah's in April 2010.

Waseemullah's case and those of his peers are indications of an unaddressed and seemingly increasing problem among Pakistani youth. The Karachi based Madadgar police helpline national database shows that in the first six months of 2015-

Around 1,061 suicide attempts were reported, which are speculated to be almost double this year. National media reports and anecdotal evidence also indicates a rise in suicide rates in the 14 to 30-year-old age group.

According to a 2012 World Health Organization [WHO] report. ''There are around 15,000 suicides committed in Pakistan annually.

Dr. Murad Khan, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, earlier estimated that there are *5,000 to 7,000 suicides yearly. Of these approximately 25 percent of the cases would be students/teens and over 50 percent occur in youth under the age of 30 years.*

While high suicide rate among Pakistani youth remain a concern for the public and authorities alike, the exact extent of the problem is very hard to determine.

The deep social stigma attached to suicide means a large number of such cases are swept under the carpet.

In addition to suicide being prohibited in Islam * just as it is in other religions* -it is considered a criminal offense punishable with imprisonment and financial penalty in Pakistan.

This means that most suicide survivors and families are reluctant to discuss this topic openly and in public, or to admit to it on record which makes it difficult for researchers and authorities to ascertain the exact number of suicides and attempted suicides in this country.

So, in absence of any authentic official national data on suicides, researchers like Dr. Khan agreed that one has to rely on the accumulating anecdotal evidence-

That suicides have increased in Pakistan over the last many years.

The Serving of this sad and sorrowful operational research on *Life and Living* continues. Thank Ya all for reading. Please share it with every student possible.

With respectful dedication to the Parents, Students, Professors and Teachers of the World. See Ya ll on !WOW! -the World Students Society and Twitter-!E-WOW! -the Ecosystem 2011: